Everybody Wants Some: Maldives public again

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 14 March, 2014 - Earlier this year leaseholders of Lohifushi Island, where the Adaaran ‘Select’ Hudhuranfushi Resort is, were granted private use of the house reef area which includes Lohi’s Left. It was part of a surfer management plan by the Maldivian government.

This meant that if you weren’t staying at the resort then you couldn’t boat in and surf. And not everyone was happy about this. As the Maldives surf season approaches, Surfersvillage received the following press release from LUEX, or Line Up Explorers….

Privatization of Maldivian surf breaks brought down!?

The Maldivian Ministry of Tourism has made a major amendment to the resort boundary regulation and has excluded all "popular" surf and dive points from the resort’s boundary. That means that surf resorts can no longer prohibit access to surf breaks within their boundary to any surfer. Basically, with that amendment, all breaks, including Lohi’s, Kandooma Rights, Pasta Point, Sultans and Honky’s, are free to be surfed again!

Chayaa Dhonveli Resort (Pasta Point) has already been an exclusive break for many years. And from 2014 onwards Hudhuranfushi Resort (Lohi’s), Holiday Inn Kandooma (Kandooma Rights) and the recently privatized Thanburudhoo Island (Sultans and Honky’s) adopted the same concept and made their surf breaks private.

The new boundary regulations now present major changes and it is going to be difficult for them to explain such changes to their clients who typically pay a high premium for just such exclusivity. Understandably there is now a lot of confusion.

LUEX has investigated the government press release in more detail and asked when the new rules will start to be effective, as it is as yet unclear when the new rule will be implemented. The press release states that the Ministry of -Tourism has yet to publish a complete list of all “popular“ surf and dive points and has yet to define a management plan for the breaks. . A translation of the last part of the notice is

2.8. "this regulation’s clause 3 and 4 which determine boundaries of resorts and marinas is made without the dive points and surf points by the Ministry of Tourism. A list of dive and surf points will be publicly announced by the Ministry. And a usage policy will be made public by the ministry.“

As of now it remains unclear whether that law will be effective, when it will be implemented and what breaks will be affected. We will keep you updated on that issue. And we hope to have clear answers and free surf breaks in the Maldives soon.